On our way to England

We made it to our first stop ~ Starke, Florida. Stayed up until about 1 this morning trying to get everything packed, re-packed, then OH WE FORGOT THE SHOES.... un pack, re pack.... repeat.... We did get some sleep though before we hopped up out of bed all ready to go at 6 HAHAHA NOT! we rolled out of bed and stuck a coffee IV in LOL We had a lil drama this morning before leaving but it truly wasn't a huge deal and in the big picture it is all good. Jeffrey has hopefully temporarily misplaced his kindle :( He made a trip to the church thinking he had left it there but couldn't find it. We shrugged it off and reminded ourselves it's just a "thing". Mother Dearest made us an amazing breakfast that sent us off in style with FULL bellies! She made fried potatoes, eggs, biscuits & gravy. She had some sausage from Cindy's pig that was a bit too spicy for me but the boys LOVED it! Hugged Cindy Lou and Andrew but didn't get to see the kiddos :( It was great to have coffee with my mom though. THEN we were on the road! We had Joe with us so we had to stop a few more times than normal but overall it was a great trip! I love traveling with my husband! We have the best conversations. This trip is pretty exciting for us but we are trying to stay "calm" haha We arrived here at Dad & Mom Thomas to find Mom T. made arroz con pollo... be jealous, be VERY jealous!

We are so blessed to have family and friends rid'n along with us on this journey! God has just blessed my heart through their prayers and words of encouragement! I have thought of the team from our church who should be in the D.R. by now. Praying they have a blessed time this week!!!

Thank you God for today! COME ON TOMORROW!!!!!!

Remember ~ to keep in mind for attention of consideration

Today has been a day of remembering. Remembering a loved one, all the memories we shared. His family and friends coming together and sharing another memory together. Memories are something God gives us to help us move forward. We were riding through Starke today and it is filled with so many memories. More for Jeffrey than myself. Where he graduated from high school. The same high school his Dad graduated from. His first job. Kind people... not so kind people haha We moved to Starke when we had been married for 6 months and began making memories of our own. As we drove through town today and with our minds already going down memory lane, we passed a Pizza Hut. A special Pizza Hut. One that we remember even 15 years later. I said "you know, we need to write down all the times that God has miraculously provided for us. We forget." Jeffrey said "take a picture and blog about it". TWIST my arm... :) I love to proclaim God's wonders, his miracles!!!!
We were... um, a little less than poor at the time. I was pregnant with Micah. It was a normal Sunday where we went to church that morning. We had nothing at home to eat. Now I'm not just saying we had a pantry full of stuff but didn't know what to do with it... we had nothing. We had $12 in the bank so we were going to go by the store and get something. I had been really sick and didn't feel like making anything so Jeff says "well, we can trust God by going to the grocery store or we can trust God by going to eat pizza". So, we went to Pizza Hut. We knew we had JUST enough to buy our lunch. When we walked in, we saw the price for lunch buffet had gone up. Jeff said "I'll go pull out more money and come back and pay". He needed to eat something so we ate first. While we were eating, a family came in that had 6 kids. We really enjoyed watching them interact with the baby. This baby had special needs but like so many... no one told him that ;) He was probably about 2 years old. Jeff finished eating and left. The youth group from our church came in right as Jeff was leaving so I talked to them a minute and went back and sat down. The dad of this precious family came up to our table and said "God told me to pay for your food". I said "oh, no sir! We have it, we just didn't have enough... so he went to pull it out". He just said "God just told me to do this" and then he left. I sat there just in shock. Jeff walked in a few minutes later and I told him what had happened. We rushed out the door to pay the man. He was so calm, getting all the kids in the van. He said "we live in Palatka and we have no reason to come to Starke. Today God just told us we needed to come eat here. All I can tell you is do what God has you to do". Jeff thanked and thanked him and still tried to pay him. He said again "I'm just doing what God told me to do. Just go do what God has told you to do". We told them bye, got in our car and drove in teary silence most of the way home.

God has used many times like this to encourage us, to remind us "HEY, I'm here!!!" Yet, somehow, we still forget. We worry when money gets low, when loved ones get sick, when plans go COMPLETELY different than we had planned. Not only do we have the Bible with countless accounts of God's provision, we have modern day miracles and we still FORGET to REMEMBER!!!! I'm thankful for these precious precious memories!!!

1 Chronicles 16:12 "Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced"

disappointment

Those of you with kids know that it is always easy, always uplifting, never disappointing... ok, just checking to see if you are REALLY listening. Of course not, we KNOW it's not ALWAYS easy but for some reason I still get surprised when we go through valleys of disappointment. I've been struggling with a child that will go un named and have found myself starting to act mad towards him. With this "how dare you" attitude. "Why can't he see?" is on my mind constantly. I've prayed for guidance and wisdom on how to deal with this but my attitude was really starting to shape my actions (wait... isn't this what I'm aggravated about... yeah...) So, we are here, in Starke, Fl. for Jeffrey's uncle's funeral. A mixed emotion time for sure. We had a blessed trip down. Great conversation, took a nap... etc. I pick up this little devotion book beside the bed and the devotion is "when a friend disappoints you". Even though I'm dealing with my child at this point in time... the truth in this applies. I was both convicted and encouraged but this. Psalm 103:8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. The very first sentence is "How do you deal with people who disappoint you?" HA well... at the moment... I'm upset. I want to discipline him in to action, I want to ground him until he's 18, more chores, more school work... OUCH! I'm not even slightly filled with mercy much less ABOUNDING (filled to the very brim with). Here is another sentence that stuck with me "Can I learn to be gentle in dealing with the faults of others?" Wow! Unfortunately, I've found that I deal more grace and mercy to my friends than I do to my children. It's MY job to train/teach. It's MY job to ground them in what is right... but it's driving a wedge, pushing away. This is NOT what I desire!!! "God's way of dealing with people who disappoint Him is not my most natural way. It's harder. But it's also a far better way". Mercy, Grace, Slow to Anger!!!!!!

Thank you God for being faithful to light the path day by day with each decision that is set before me! Give me strength to follow through with what you have shown me is the RIGHT way to act!

There is a ton of stuff going on right now but this was pressing on my heart to share. Our children are a HUGE part of our journey!!!!

My Boys My Blessings

Anyone with kids knows what a challenge it is to teach/train them yet enjoy them. I have to say I don't have that balanced out very well. I don't want them to grow up and say "mom never told me" or "why didn't you teach me that?". The problem with that is I get very overwhelmed and then they end up frustrated feeling they can do NOTHING right. Last week left me feeling less than adequate as a mother and not necessarily wanting to quit but wondering if my boys would benefit from someone else as a mom. Don't judge me... I've since talked to a few people who have felt the same way along the way so I know I'm not alone. The TRUTH is I'm not only blessed with my little boogers, THEY are blessed with me! The lie of "I'm not good enough" needs to be exposed and I'm grabbing on the TRUTH that God through me can raise these boys to be great godly men!

Yesterday I woke up with just wanting to enjoy the boys. I know school starts back next week and we had some errands to run so I thought we should make it an enjoyable day. We started out to the homeschool store and on the way I had to "gently" remind them that I really wanted the day to be ENJOYABLE, not "ok. y'all. stop." Knowing the homeschool store meant they were starting school soon, they were not extremely excited but I just went with it and didn't "scold" :) I was so proud haha It was really neat inside because they were able to find some books that interest THEM. Nate brings me one and says "this store is proving to be beneficial" YAY! I was not able to find all that I needed there but I was just excited that we had a good time. There was an International Foods store right next to where we were so we went in there. It was really cool to look at all the different things. It was mostly Korean items. There were some Korean ladies in the back making Korean sushi so we were able to somewhat talk with them and try the sushi. We really liked it! Reminded us of our days in PA. We left there with a few things including some Japanese green tea that I thoroughly enjoyed. To keep the cultural ball rolling we decided to go to a German restaurant for lunch. I was soaking it all in! I love that in this small town there is so much diversity. We had wonderful German food and even more wonderful conversation as I set out for this day to just ENJOY my boys. I put aside all little spats and did not try to TEACH them (lemme just say... that was so hard haha) We left very full and satisfied! Thank you Lord for provision! From there we went to the new Guitar Center here. Of course it's like a big play ground to my boys. We spent a good amount of time in there, just looking at everything. Then on to Earth Fare... Momma's playground LOL Although, I made it in and out of there only getting oats (Micah did have to cover my eyes after my sighs got to him) When we left earth fare I decided to see if Mom wanted some coffee, really crazy question but I thought I would ask :) I took her a latte and just chatted with her a bit. Nate said "we've been to Korea, then to Germany, now back to America" We left mom's work and went to the church to clean. I love them! I just LOVE them! It still amazes me that God has blessed me to be a mom. I don't deserve it but yet he has. It's a scary thing, so much that I take it way too seriously. These boys are hilarious and they are so full of energy and life. Life will be very serious for them all too soon. I want to enjoy the times we have now. All in all, a very blessed day!

it's not JUST a wedding ring

So many times people have told me, "I really like your wedding ring". Wedding rings are so special. They symbolize so much. Each couple has a story of how they picked their wedding ring, why they picked that particular one. How that ring was given, things that were sacrificed to buy the ring... Sounds funny to say this is a God-given ring, but I truly believe it is and I'm thankful for it. Makes me smile :) When we got engaged, May 1st 1993, I really wanted my mom's wedding band. I had played with that all my life and dreamed one day I would wear it. Jeffrey wanted to buy me one of course so we settled on getting a guard to go around it. I just wasn't happy with the one we were paying on so we decided against it. We stuck with my parents old bands and I LOVED them! We just decided that one day when we are able we will buy bands of our own. We had been married 2 1/2 years when we had Micah and Jeffrey's band was wearing thin and beginning to cut him. I made the mistake of trying to put on my wedding rings when Micah was 2 weeks old and they got stuck. We had to have them cut off :( At that time I began to look for rings that fit both of our tastes. We wanted matching rings, not flashy, 2 tone. With all that there were not many options. I saw one in a magazine and LOVED it. We did not have the money so I cut out the picture and put it in my cedar chest. A few years later Jeffrey's ring had finally come to the end of it's life and we had a tax return we decided to buy rings with. The problem was, I couldn't remember where I got the picture from. I called a few places and finally found where it was, Alabama. The lady was a romantic apparently and just awed over my story of holding on to the pic. She gave us the sale price for the rings AND free shipping. When our rings came I was SO SUPER EXCITED!!! I would just stare at it, just made me smile. I went to a meeting and a lady commented on my ring "is that a James Avery?". At that point I had not heard of James Avery and told her no. She said "He designs jewelry with a Christian outlook" Hhhmmm I began to look at my ring and thought I would scream.... here's what I saw...

Ring ~ a symbol of unity.
Gold rings ~ there are 3 small gold rings. We are one through God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit
Diamonds ~ there are 7 diamonds. The number of perfection/completion.

I couldn't wait to get home and show Jeffrey! I was so excited. Every ring has a story... now you know ours :)

to PA and back

Wow! What an amazing trip we had to PA! We left bright n early... er... early on Wednesday morning. Amazingly enough we did get on the road in time. Once we arrived at B'ham airport we experienced our first "new" thing. We have never parked our car at the airport for an extended time. That lead us to walking a LONG distance because we didn't know where we were going haha We had tried to print our boarding passes but it would not let us. Once we were in we tried again and it still would not let us. The attendant found out that for some reason they had not issued Nate a ticket. We decided that we indeed did want him to go with us so we had to resolve that issue. We all made it through security with no problems and proceeded to our gate. Our trip up went very well! The boys were so excited and full of questions. We arrived at the airport where our sweet new friends were waiting with a van to pick us up. It was really cool how this van reminded us so much of Jeff's parents van.... we felt at home already :) Joni was super organized and had brought the boys a sandwich, chips and water (she has 4 boys and knew they would be hungry). The boys ate it up on the spot. We had a beautiful drive to the base and began to get to know our new friends. We had some down time to relax a bit then met up with Joni for a tour of the base. The castle has such an amazing history. It was amazing how God supplied this large space for this sending base. On to dinner which was amazing. There is a Korean church there who supplied the food for Wednesday night dinner. It was a great treat to try different cuisine. We were blessed to find out the kim chi had shrimp in it BEFORE jeff ate what he put on his plate. Definitely didn't want to take a trip to the ER. We met with the directors and found out (and gave) more information. By the time we went to bed our heads were very full (as opposed to their normal empty... totally kidding... maybe...) I did have the fleeing thought of "will my head hold this much info and thinking?" Quickly gave it to the Lord because I did not want to entertain the "I can'ts". Thursday morning came slowly because thankfully we didn't have anything pressing bright and early. That was a blessing because it gave my headache a chance to go down before the day started. We went to the media building and Jeff was shown all of the IT equipment and was given the "run down" on all that was involved. We stayed for a little bit but it was a foreign language to us so Joni and I went to pick up lunch. Philly cheese steak sandwiches ~ everyone knows that when in Philly you HAVE to have a cheese steak sandwich. Her son is trying to get his hours in for driving so he drove us to pick up sandwiches. He prayed "God please don't let us crash and die" to which my reply could only be... Amen! We were trapped in the car smelling the wonderful food on the way back to the base. The boys inhaled their sandwiches, deciding they MORE than liked it. At one point Joni says to Micah "oh, you are left handed?" Micah looks at the sandwich in his left hand and says "no ma'am, I just eat with whatever hand is closest to the food". After lunch we headed down to hear a couple give their story and where they were headed. SUPER encouraging and challenging at the same time. The boys thoroughly enjoyed hearing their story! Thursday afternoon Jeff helped a lady with her computer and advised her in ways to get things fixed. It was more than he could take care of in the 2 days we were there. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the "needs wall" and praying for direction. They place all of the needs on a wall and pray over them continually! That was almost overwhelming. We had great conversation with Joni and Burt as well. Burt took a look at Jeffrey's toe ~ which was infected :( Dinner was once again wonderful!!! They eat all together in the "cafeteria". We met with another missionary couple. They have 2 kids and were very interesting to talk to. He and Jeff discussed lots of tech stuff... the women folk um... didn't :) We went back to their apartment there on the base and she had a wonderful blueberry pie that was donated by Whole Foods. HAHA forgot to mention that... when we arrived Joni told us that Whole Foods donates their "old" stuff to them every week so most of their food was from there... she "hoped" that was ok. WOW! for those of you who know me... that is MORE than ok, it was PERFECT! among the donated items that were in our room was Throat Coat tea. I had tried to find it here at home before we left and could not so when it was in our room I was so tickled. Little winks from God for sure!!!! During the time we were talking with other people the boys would find something to entertain themselves. They made friends there which was very nice. They played v-ball, risk, worked out... just tons of stuff to do really. On to Friday morning... woke up headache free WOOHOO! we ate a quick breakfast which was right there in our rooms so that was great. Went to the weekly worship/prayer meeting. God touched my heart so many times during the 3 days we were there but this was a time where I did cry a little... just... very humbled. After the meeting we talked to a few more people then went and picked up our rental car. We had a day of site seeing in the cold and rain... it was still fun though. We ate at WaWa which apparently is known in that area. You order on a computer, boys thought it was pretty cool. We took our food to Valley Forge and ate it there. We drove around Valley Forge which was very cool... literally :) We were headed back and passed a HUGE mall so we stopped... this place was enormous. If I was a shopper I would have been delighted. It was still fun to walk around and look at the different shops. So many we had never heard of. We made our way back to the base, took a nap and freshened up then took the car back. The evening was spent with Joni, Burt and their family. They were in Kyrgyzstan for 9 years and now are the candidate directors there at the US base. We had a great evening, Joni made a wonderful meal. The boys played risk, ate ice cream. We were able to get a good picture of the organization through the days we spent with them. We left their apartment and walked back up the hill to the castle where our room was. It was cold and drizzly and our heads and hearts(and stomachs) were full. Packed up all our things and tried to get a few hours of sleep. EARLY alarm sounds at 4am(which is 3am our time) were not exactly welcomed but we did get up and get ourselves out the door by 4:45. Joni was so nice to drive us to the airport at the terribly early hour. We made it in time and said our goodbyes. I love how God places people in your life just at the right time! Whether our paths cross again or not... I've been blessed to meet an amazing lady. We had the same ticket issue with Nate again but we were determined to take him home so we resolved the problem. Made it through security with a minor "oh, sorry I forgot my water bottle was in there". We were so tired and had not eaten anything but did not have time to get anything so on the plane we went. I thought I was going to toss my cookies... well... you know what I mean. We made it to Charlotte and were able to sit, eat, discuss... just spend time together. I love my family so much!!! I was so proud of the boys, they had a blast and that was what we were shooting for! We were all ready to get home and get some sleep. Slept for a little while, got up and got ready... trying not to wake Jeffrey... started to grab my purse to go get Joe and remembered ~ I don't have a license :( So we all ended up going and picking up Joe who was VERY well taken care of by our friends. Overall it was an amazing trip ~ even with all these details, I could not begin to tell you how much God worked. We continue to seek Him for His direction in our lives. We had a wonderful time!!!!! Oh... just one last little itty bitty thought... if you ever just "happen" to get behind a chicken POOP truck, pull over and sit for like say... an HOUR. Let the truck GO... FAR FAR FAR ahead of you... I'm just say'n... it might save some gag'n :)

The journey takes a turn to.......

We are so excited to finally "let it out". We are moving forward on a dream God gave us many years ago. A dream to be in full time mission work. He has taken us through many curves, ups and downs but we have learned SO MUCH! We have been praying for a while about exactly what should that "next" step be. With much prayer, counsel and overall seeking God's guidance we have decided to take an inquiry trip to check out a mission org in PA. We may look at other places as well as God leads. I have to say I'm so thankful for people God has placed in our lives right now to be a support. We know we are just starting out on this phase of our journey and we have more curves and bumps ahead. We are trusting God to lead us each step. Laying aside all fears of past events (on a daily basis... actually minute by minute at times) giving to God everything and everyone involved in this process.

The boys and I are reading through Jesus Freaks. This morning we read "Don't pray that I be delivered, only pray for me, that inward and outward strength be given to me, not only to speak and write this, but also to perform and endure it, so that I may not only be called a Christian, but also be found one in truth.... For I am the grain of God. I am ground by the teeth of the beasts, that I may be found a pure bread for Christ, who is to me the bread of life" I was left speechless ( I know this is hard to imagine) Simply humbling for me to think of those who have laid their lives down for Christ. MY CHRIST! As Christ laid His life down for my sins there are others who have sacrificed in many ways, leaving their families all of their comforts even giving their life for the cause of Christ. This is my desire!

So then... comes a day such as yesterday when I think I'm going to totally lose it and I think "I'm not strong enough for this path, I don't have what it takes" God ever so lovingly shows me "nope you don't! I do!" I'm so thankful for His strength!!!

We are on countdown to April 6th. We will be headed to Philadelphia, PA. Let the adventures CONTINUE!!!! :)